Thousands were today paying tribute to dead Muslim police officer Ahmed Merabet using the rallying cry 'JeSuisAhmed' after the heroic officer was gunned down in Paris.

The celebration of Mr Merabet, who was killed as he begged for his life by suspected Islamic fanatics, echoes the 'JeSuisCharlie' (I am Charlie) demonstrations that have swept the world in the wake of yesterday's shocking massacre.

His colleagues today said they were in extreme shock after a video of the Charlie Hebdo office attack emerged - showing Mr Merabet on the ground and begging for mercy as he is killed casually executed by a gunshot to the head.

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Police officer Ahmed Merabet (identified on Twitter, above) was killed while working in the area Charlie Hebdo's offices are located

The gunmen move in on Ahmed Merabet - who was himself Muslim - as he lies wounded on the pavement

'Massacre': The two masked gunmen brandishing Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers attack the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo

Today, #JeSuisAhmed began trending on Twitter as thousands expressed their admiration for his sacrifice while defending the right to freedom of speech.

The rallying cry is a play on words of 'Je Suis Charlie', the catchphrase spawned in the wake of the deadly massacre to show solidarity with those killed.

Mr Merabet, originally from Livry-Gargan in north eastern Paris, had been a fully-trained police officer for eight years.

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Today his police union colleagues released a statement, stating they were in shock after seeing him 'shot down like a dog'.

The union's departmental secretary, Rocco Contento, said he was a very quiet and conscientious man.

He added: 'We are all extremely shocked. The police are deeply affected by the video of the murder of their colleague circulating on some networks.'

It is understood that Mr Merabet was a married Parisian cycle cop assigned to the 11th arrondissement – the Paris neighbourhood where Charlie Hebdo’s office is located and known for its dining and fine wines.

As the French magazine vowed to publish next week in defiance of the massacre, one French mourner wrote: 'Ahmed Merabet died protecting the innocent from hate. I salute him.'

The rallying cry, which translates to 'I Am Charlie' is being used in demonstrations across the globe. Pictured is the phrase on a newsstand in Paris

Members of Sydney's French community gather in the Australian city for a memorial in the wake of the deadly killing

The French Embassy in Edinburgh shows its support for the people killed at the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo yesterday

Mr Merabet was one of 12 people killed in the terrifying attack, including eight journalists at the offices of the French satirical newspaper, two guests, and one other policeman.

Tributes for Mr Merabet continuing pouring in today, with one person writing: 'RIP Ahmed Merabet, French policeman, murdered protecting people in Paris', while Alan Mendoza said: 'Important to note that amid the carnage today a brave Muslim policeman was murdered by those claiming to represent Islam.'

His family have said they wish to bury him at a famous Muslim cemetery in France. Located just north-east of Paris, it is the burial ground of more than 7,000 Muslims.

Editor Stephane Charbonnier - who famously said he would rather die than 'live like a rat' - was also killed alongside Franck Brinsolaro, a police officer assigned to protect him.

Six of the Charlie Hebdo journalists and staff members killed in yesterday's attack are pictured together in this photo, taken in 2000. Circled top from left is Philippe Honore, Georges Wolinski, Bernard Maris and Jean Cabut. Below them on the stairs, from left, is editor Stephane Charbonnier and cartoonist Bernard ‘Tignous’ Verlhac

French police officer and brother of slain Franck Brinsolaro, Philippe Brinsolaro (centre) is pictured during a minute's silence held today in Marseille

Philippe Brinsolaro, the brother of one of the police officers killed, speaks to media in Marseille

The second police officer to be killed in the attack was Franck Brinsolaro, 49, a brigadier and protection officer for the magazine's editor Stephane Charbonnier.

The married 49-year-old lived in Bernay, France, and was the father of two children. His wife, Ingrid Brinsolaro, is editor of the Awakening Normand, Bernay, a newspaper that belongs to the group Publihebdos, as Hebdo de Sevre et Maine.

The team at Publihebdos have released a statement regarding the killing.

It read: 'Publihebdos teams are in shock after the cowardly attack... that hit Charlie Hebdo today.

'This barbaric attack had many victims, including a downed police officer who was the husband of Ingrid Brinsolaro, our editor at Bernay. We are devastated and very sad.

'With this attack it is the journalists that one is. Freedom of the press is challenged and through it all our freedoms.

'Our duty, the honor of the publishing community is to affirm more than ever its solidarity with his friends of Charlie Hebdo for the defense and illustration of the freedom of the press.

'It is also to declare that it will never yield to threats and intimidation against intangible principles of freedom of expression.'

Among the victims was Mr Charbonnier, the defiant editor whose satirical newspaper dared to poke fun at everything from religion to feminism.

REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS: 'INTANGIBLE PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM'

Stephanie 'Charb' Charbonnier: Publication director Charb had been under protection since his magazine controversially reprinted cartoons of Mohammed in 2006. He was a longtime supporter of the Parti Communiste, and later, the left-wing Front de Gauche.

Bernard ‘Tignous’ Verlhac: Tignous, 57, was a regular contributor to Charlie Hebdo. His friends yesterday paid tribute to Tignous' 'bon vivant' spirit, and recalled his own words: 'There are two things I really know how to do: friendship and drawing.

Georges Wolinski: The cartooning doyen, aged 80, was one of the founding members of the Hara-Kiri magazine, a forerunner to Charlie Hebdo, in the 1960s. He believed 'humour is the shortest route from one man to another'.

Jean Cabut: Killed a week shy of his 77th birthday, Cabut has been widely remembered as a bespectacled giant of the French cartooning world. Cabut's work was first published at the age of 16.

Bernard Maris: An economist and contributor who was in the office's at the time of the massacre. Also an author, born in Toulouse in 1946, Maris was best known to Charlie readers as "Uncle Bernard". He wrote for Marianne, Le Figaro Magazine, Le Monde and L'Obs and was a regular on France Inter.

Elsa Cayat: The psychiatrist and psychoanalyst was the only woman killed in the massacre. She wrote a twice-monthly column for Charlie Hebdo entitled 'Charlie Divan' - 'Couch' - and published essays on relations between men and women and sexuality. The only woman killed in the attack.

Michel Renaud: Mr Renaud was not a staff member but was guest editing an upcoming edition of the magazine. He had gone to visit Charlie Hebdo's offices with another member of his organisation, Gerard Gaillard, who survived the gunfire. According to France Bleu, the pair had come to visit Jean Cabut, who was a guest of honour at last year's event.

Frederic Boisseau: Mr Boisseau had worked for French catering and site facilities company Sodexo for 15 years. He was reportedly a 42-year-old father-of two.

Mustapha Ourrad: One of the magazine's copy editors.

Ahmed Merabet: The 42-year-old Muslim police officer executed by the militants while begging for his life.

Franck Brinsolaro: The second police officer killed, he was a married father-of-two tasked with protecting the magazine editor, Mr Charbonnier.

Jean Cabut, also known as Cabu, (left) and economist and contributor Bernard Maris (right) were also among the 12 victims killed yesterday

Tragic: Georges Wolinski was named by officials as one of those shot dead at the offices of Charlie Hebdo

Cartoonist Philippe Honore (left) was a regular contributor who was killed as well as Michel Renaud (right) who was guest editing the magazine

Left foreground, Corinne Rey, a cartoonist also known as Coco, is pictured working alongside cartoonist Bernard 'Tignous' Verlhac. In the background is the editor Stephane Charbonnier, who was killed alongside Mr Verlhac. Miss Rey was forced to give the gunmen the four-digit security code to the offices when they threatened to murder her daughter

Left is Georges Wolinski, pictured with his wife. On the right is Elsa Cayat, in a photograph published by Le Figaro's magazine Madame. The columnist and psychiatrist was the only woman killed in the attack

While others may have left Islam alone amid constant warnings of violence, Mr Charbonnier refused to relent.

‘I am not afraid of retaliation. I have no children, no wife, no car, no credit,’ he said after receiving death threats two years ago. ‘It perhaps sounds a bit pompous, but I’d rather die standing than live on my knees.’

Mr Charbonnier – nicknamed Charb – spoke out fiercely against political correctness, saying: ‘It should be as normal to criticise Islam as it is to criticise Jews or Catholics.’

The 47-year-old, who took over as editor in 2009, grew up in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northern France and joined Charlie Hebdo in the early 1990s as a designer.

Jean ‘Cabu’ Cabut was another victim. The magazine’s 76-year-old lead cartoonist was an almost legendary cultural figure in France.

Known by the nickname ‘Cabu’, he was renowned for his quick wit and youthful style. He was also notorious for his drawing of Mohammed, which sparked fury after adorning the cover of Charlie Hebdo in 2006.

Despite all the controversy, Mr Cabut was insistent that art should not be constrained. Perhaps his most famous quote was: ‘Sometimes laughter can hurt – but laughter, humour and mockery are our only weapons.’

Also among the dead was Georges Wolinski, an 80-year-old who was as renowned for his colourful home life as he was for being a ‘master of satirical illustration’.

Married twice, he once joked about his dying wish, saying: ‘I want to be cremated. I said to my wife, “if you throw the ashes in the toilet, I get to see your bottom every day”.’

Mr Wolinski was born in Tunis on June 28, 1934 to a Franco-Italian mother and a Polish Jewish father. He joined Hara-Kiri with Cabu in 1960 and became renowned for his cartoons, which spoofed politics and sexuality.

Georges Wolinski's daughter Elsa, posted this image online as a tribute to her father. It is believed to be an image of her father's office

Emergency: Police officers and firefighters gather in front of the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris after gunmen stormed the building

Another victim, cartoonist Bernard ‘Tignous’ Verlhac, was a renowned pacifist. The 57-year-old Parisian had been drawing for the French press since 1980 and originally made his name on comic publication L’idiot international.

Mourners were also last night paying tribute to Philippe Honore, a regular contributor to Charlie Hebdo who specialised in ‘literary puzzles’. The 73-year-old was born in Vichy, central France, and was first published aged just 16.

Victim Bernard Maris was a Left-wing economist, known to readers as ‘Uncle Bernard’. Heartbroken friends said the 68-year-old was a ‘cultured, kind and very tolerant man’.

Also killed was Michel Renaud, who did not work for Charlie Hebdo, but had been invited to the magazine’s offices as guest editor. He was the founder of ‘Rendez-vous de Carnet de Voyage’, a travel-themed art festival.

It has been reported that the final two victims are Frédéric Boisseau, a maintenance worker, and Elsa Cayat.

Ms Cayat, the only female victim of the gunmen, was a columnist and analyst for the magazine, according to Le Figaro.

Post mortems will be held on Thursday, according to reports citing the prosecutor of Paris, François Molins.

Police officers were involved in a gunfight with the 'calm and highly disciplined men', who escaped in a hijacked car, speeding away towards east Paris. They remain on the loose, along with a third armed man.

Staff of Charlie Hebdo, including cartoonists Cabu (left), Charb (second left), Tignous (fourth left) and Honore (fifth left) posing in front of the then headquarters of the weekly in Paris

Tributes have been pouring in to the 'heroic' men who refused to be intimidated and who saw their work as vital tools of political expression, with one Twitter user stating 'you wanted to kill Charlie Hebdo, you just made it immortal'.

As the world expressed its horror at the massacre, Charlie Hebdo's editor-in-chief Gerard Biard said 'a newspaper is not a weapon of war.'

The gunmen reportedly asked for the cartoonists by name before shooting them dead and yelling 'the Prophet has been avenged'.

And there were unconfirmed reports that one of the gunmen said to a witness: 'You say to the media, it was Al Qaeda in Yemen.'

President Francois Hollande said the bloodbath - France's deadliest postwar terrorist outrage - was a 'barbaric attack against France, and against journalists'.

The magazine's offices were burnt down in a petrol attack in 2011 after running a magazine cover of the Prophet Mohammed as a cartoon character.

Afterwards Charbonnier remained defiant, saying that Islam could not be excluded from freedom of the press.

He said: 'If we can poke fun at everything in France, if we can talk about anything in France apart from Islam or the consequences of Islamism, that is annoying.'

Mr Charbonnier said he did not see the attack on the magazine as the work of French Muslims, but of what he called 'idiot extremists'.

Charbonnier, 47, known by his pen name Charb, once famously said 'I'd prefer to die standing than live on my knees'

Cabu was mercilessly gunned down today in a shooting that was described by police as a 'bloodbath'

The cover showed Mohammed saying: '100 lashes if you are not dying of laughter'.

Mr Charbonnier, who once said 'a drawing has never killed anyone', was included in a 2013 Wanted Dead or Alive for Crimes Against Islam article published by Inspire, the terrorist propaganda magazine published by Al Qaeda.

In 2012 he said: 'I don't feel as though I'm killing someone with a pen. I'm not putting lives at risk. When activists need a pretext to justify their violence, they always find it.'

Charbonnier said that he didn't fear reprisals. After publishing naked pictures of the Prophet in 2012, he said: 'I have neither a wife nor children, not even a dog. But I'm not going to hide.'

He added: 'It should be as normal to criticize Islam as it is to criticize Jews or Catholics. I'd rather die than live like a rat.'

Georges Wolinski, who lived in Paris, was married twice, first to Jacqueline Saba, with whom he had two children, Frederica and Natacha, and then in 1971 to Maryse Bachere. They had one daughter together, Elsa-Angela.

STEPHANE CHARBONNIER: THE CHARLIE HEBDO EDITOR WHO WAS DEFIANT TO THE LAST

The offices of Charlie Hebdo were burnt down in a petrol attack in 2011 after running a magazine cover of the Prophet Mohammed as a cartoon character.

Afterwards Charbonnier remained defiant, saying that Islam could not be excluded from freedom of the press.

He said: 'If we can poke fun at everything in France, if we can talk about anything in France apart from Islam or the consequences of Islamism, that is annoying.'

Mr Charbonnier said he did not see the attack on the magazine as the work of French Muslims, but of what he called 'idiot extremists'.

The cover showed Mohammed saying: '100 lashes if you are not dying of laughter'.

Mr Charbonnier, who once said 'a drawing has never killed anyone', was included in a 2013 Wanted Dead or Alive for Crimes Against Islam article published by Inspire, the terrorist propaganda magazine published by Al Qaeda.

In 2012 he said: 'I don't feel as though I'm killing someone with a pen. I'm not putting lives at risk. When activists need a pretext to justify their violence, they always find it.'

Charbonnier said that he didn't fear reprisals. After publishing naked pictures of the Prophet in 2012, he said: 'I have neither a wife nor children, not even a dog. But I'm not going to hide.'

He added: 'It should be as normal to criticize Islam as it is to criticize Jews or Catholics. I'd rather die than live like a rat.'

Wolinski previously lived off the fashionable Boulevard Saint Germain where he was a well-known and well-liked character.

A waiter called Mathieu - who works in a cafe on the Rue Bonaparte where Wolinski lived - tonight paid tribute to him.

He told MailOnline: 'He was a great man and a great cartoonist. Everybody around here knew him and admired him for his work.

'He would come in every morning for an espresso and would chat to everyone, including all of the staff.

'This is a very liberal area, with lots of bookstores, so we are all in shock today.

'A lot of the Charlie Hebdo staff would eat and drink around here and have lots of friends in this neighbourhood, so it is a very sad day for us all and for Paris.'

Cabu's drawings first appeared in a local French newspaper in 1954. He was conscripted to the Army for two years for the Algerian War, but that didn't stop his creative talent, which was put to use in the army magazine Bled and in Paris-Match.

In the 1960s, 70s and 80s his career flourished, with the artist co-creating Hara-Kiri magazine, working on children's TV show Recre A2 and eventually working on Charlie Hebdo as a caricaturists.

His most controversial moment came in 2006 when his drawing of the Muslim prophet Muhammad appeared on the cover with the caption 'Muhammad overwhelmed by fundamentalists' with a speech bubble containing the words 'so hard to be loved by jerks'. Muslims consider any drawings of the prophet to be extremely offensive.

He was the father of French singer/songwriter Mano Solo, who died in 2010.

Victim Bernard Maris was an economist who contributed to the newspaper and was heard regularly on French radio. He was married to journalist Sylvie Genevoix, who died on 20 September 2012.

The former chief of staff of the mayor of Clermont-Ferrand, Michel Renaud was reportedly among those that were killed while visiting the Paris office where he was invited to be a guest editor.

It is thought he was accompanied by friend, Gerard Gaillard, who escaped the shooting by lying on the ground, according to France 3 Auvergne.

Philippe Honoré was born in Vichy in 1941 and had his first cartoon published when he was just 16. He was a regular contributor to the magazine, specialising in puzzles, and had many books published.

The magazine's proof reader, Mustapha Oura, is thought to have recently obtained French nationality.

When shots rang out, it is thought that three policemen on bicycles were the first to respond

Benoit Bringer, a journalist with Agence Premiere Ligne - who saw the attack, told the iTele network he saw several masked men armed with machine guns

A picture posted on Twitter reportedly showing bullets in one of the windows of the Charlie Hebdo office

An injured person is evacuated outside the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's office

Thousands of tributes to the cartoonists have appeared on Twitter.

Gabriel Heller paid tribute by posting his favourite quote from Jean Cabut: 'Sometimes laughter can hurt, but laughter, humour and mockery are our only weapons.'

'NOT MANY DARED DO WHAT THEY DID': TRIBUTES PAID FROM FELLOW ARTISTS AND JOURNALISTS

Gerard Biard, editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo: ‘I am shocked that people have attacked a newspaper in France, a secular republic. I don’t understand how people can attack a newspaper with heavy weapons. A newspaper is not a weapon of war.’

Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye: ‘I am appalled by this murderous attack on free speech. I offer my condolences to the families and friends of those killed – the cartoonists, journalists and those who were trying to protect them. They paid a very high price for exercising their comic liberty. Very little seems funny today.’

Novelist Salman Rushdie, who spent years in hiding after his novel The Satanic Verses drew a death edict from Iran’s religious authorities: ‘I stand with Charlie Hebdo to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity. “Respect for religion” has become a code phrase meaning fear of religion. Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect.’

Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who lives under police protection after drawing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed: ‘This will create fear among people on a whole different level than we’re used to. Charlie Hebdo was a small oasis. Not many dared do what they did. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Can they continue to publish the magazine?’

Editorial in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which faced numerous threats and foiled attacks after it published 12 caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005: ‘Charlie Hebdo was among the magazines that showed the most solidarity with Jyllands-Posten when the Mohammed crisis was at its peak. We haven’t forgotten that.’

Christophe Trivalle wrote: 'This day will be as memorable in France as 11th September in the US.'

Twitter user ArtByFab, meanwhile, said that the cartoonists 'made me love and want to draw since I was a child'.

Another, Eleadorable, had a message for the killers: 'You wanted to kill Charlie Hebdo, you just made it immortal.'

As well as the AK47 assault rifles, there were also reports of a rocket-propelled grenade being used in the attack, which took place during the publication's weekly editorial meeting, meaning all the journalists would have been present.

When shots rang out at the office - located near Paris' Bastille monument - it is thought that three policemen on bicycles were the first to respond.

'There was a loud gunfire and at least one explosion,' said an eye witness. 'When police arrived there was a mass shoot-out. The men got away by car, stealing a car.'

A police official, Luc Poignant,told BFM TV: 'It's carnage.'

Survivor and Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Corinne 'Coco' Rey was quoted by French newspaper L'Humanite as saying: 'I had gone to collect my daughter from day care and as I arrived in front of the door of the paper's building two hooded and armed men threatened us. They wanted to go inside, to go upstairs. I entered the code.

'They fired on Wolinski, Cabu... it lasted five minutes... I sheltered under a desk... They spoke perfect French... claimed to be from al Qaeda.'

Florence Pouvil, a salesperson at Lunas France on Rue Nicolas Appert, opposite Charlie Hebdo offices, told MailOnline: 'I saw two people with big guns, like Kalashnekovs outside our office and then we heard firing. We were very confused.'

'There were two guys who came out of the building and shot everywhere. We hid on the floor, we were terrified.

'They came from the building opposite with big guns. It has a bunch of different companies inside. Some of our co-workers work there so we were frightened for them.

'They weren't just firing inside the Charlie Hebdo offices. They were firing in the street too.

'We feared for our lives so we hid under our desks so they wouldn't see us. Both men were dressed in black from head to toe and their faces were covered so I didn't see them.

Survivor and Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Corinne 'Coco' Rey (pictured) was forced to let the gunmen into the building and heard the shooting, which she said lasted about five minutes

'They were wearing military clothes, it wasn't common clothing, like they were soldiers.'

Once inside the gunmen sought out Charbonnier, shouting 'where is Charb? where is Charb? They killed him and his police bodyguard first, said Christophe Crepin, a police union spokesman. They then sprayed the rest of the room with bullets.

Minutes later, two men strolled out to a black car waiting below, calmly firing on a police officer, with one gunman shooting him in the head as he writhed on the ground, according to video and a man who watched in fear from his home across the street.

The witness, who refused to allow his name to be used because he feared for his safety, said the attackers were so methodical he first mistook them for France's elite anti-terrorism forces. Then they fired on the officer.

'They knew exactly what they had to do and exactly where to shoot. While one kept watch and checked that the traffic was good for them, the other one delivered the final coup de grace,' he said. 'They ran back to the car. The moment they got in, the car drove off almost casually.'

The witness added: 'I think they were extremely well-trained, and they knew exactly down to the centimetre and even to the second what they had to do.

A visibly shocked French President François Hollande, speaking live near the scene of the shooting, said: 'France is today in shock, in front of a terrorist attack.

'This newspaper was threatened several rimes in the past and we need to show we are a united country.

'We have to be firm, and we have to be stand strong with the international community in the coming days and weeks.

'We are at a very difficult moment following several terrorist attacks. We are threated because we are a country of freedom

'We will punish the attackers. We will look for the people responsible.'

Charlie Hebdo's editor-in-chief Gerard Biard, who was in London at the time of the attack, spoke of his shock.

He told France Inter: 'I don't understand how people can attack a newspaper with heavy weapons. A newspaper is not a weapon of war.'

A picture posted on Twitter appearing to show people taking refuge on the roof of the Charlie Hebdo office

Officers were involved in a gunfight with the men, who escaped in a hijacked car and sped away from the 15th arrondissement office, towards east Paris

He said the magazine, started in 1960 by Georges Bernier and François Cavanna, had not received threats of violence: 'Not to my knowledge, and I don't think anyone had received them as individuals, because they would have talked about it. There was no particular tension at the moment.'

The deaths of the cartoonists will shock France as their work, though sometimes controversial, was extremely popular.

Marie Pommery, a French chef currently living in London, told MailOnline: 'This is the worst attack on press freedom. A whole generation of French people grew up with Cabu and Wolinski's cartoons. It's shocking news.'

Prime Minister David Cameron joined the condemnation of the attack, saying: 'The murders in Paris are sickening.

'We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press.'

The British Foreign Office immediately updated is advice for travellers heading to Pairs, warning: 'There is a high threat from terrorism.'

It added: 'If you're in Paris or the Ile de France area take extra care and follow advice of French authorities.'

LocationL Officers were involved in a gunfight with the men, who escaped in a hijacked car and sped away from the 15th arrondissement office, towards east Paris.

Luce Lapin and Laurent Leger, who have both worked at Charlie Hebdo, were using Twitter hours before the attack.

The most recent tweet posted by Lapin praised cartoonist Cabu. It read: 'Cabu, a great man! And honest, he doesn't eat foie gras.'

While Leger's made a political point about taxes. It said: 'Macron [French ministry of economy] wants more billionaires in France, the same that use tricks for not paying ISF [solidarity tax on wealth].'

The latest tweet published by the magazine's official Twitter account featured a cartoon of Abu Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State.

'We have to be stand strong with the international community': A visibly shocked French President François Hollande arrives at the scene, where he promised to bring those responsible to justice

HOW CHARLIE HEBDO HAS BECOME BYWORD FOR ANTI-ISLAMIC SENTIMENT

Magazine Charlie Hebdo has become a byword for offensive statements in France after taking several highly provocative swipes at Islam.

The magazine once named Prophet Mohammed as its guest editor, published cartoons of the holy figure in the nude, and once renamed itself Sharia Hebdo with the cover slogan '100 lashes if you don't die of laughter'.

The controversy began in 2006 when the publication reprinted now-infamous cartoons of Prophet Mohammed by Danish artist Kurt Westergaard.

When the images originally appeared they lead to days of protests across the Middle East and in Western cities. The decision to reprint the images landed the then-editor in court under anti-terror laws, though he was later acquitted.

The Hebdo offices were burned to the ground in 2011 when attackers used Molotov cocktails to start a blaze early in the morning of November 2.

There was nobody in the building at the time, and the target was instead thought to be the magazine's computer system, which was completely destroyed.

Riot police were forced to stand guard outside the building for days following the attack, as the editors took a defiant stance, choosing to reprint the cartoon images multiple times.

In 2012 they again printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as a deliberately provocative gesture while violent protests were taking place across the Middle East.

The following year the magazine's office again had to be surrounded by riot officers after they published a cartoon booklet depicting the Prohpet naked as a baby and being pushed in a wheelchair.

On the final page of the booklet there was a note from the editor, Stephane Charbonnier, saying the images were 'halal' because Muslims had worked on them, and that they were factually accurate as they had been derived from descriptions in the Koran.

The satirical publication, widely seen as France's answer to Private Eye, prides itself on a mixture of tongue-in-cheek reporting and investigative journalism.

Hebdo's current office building has no notices on the door to prevent a repeat of the attacks that have occurred in the past.

In an interview with De Volkskrant in January 2013, Mr Charbonnier revealed he had been placed under constant police protection for four months after one of the cartoon issues was published.

He shrugged off criticism that he was only publishing the images to gain notoriety for Hebdo, and insisted that he was instead defending the right to free speech.

Mr Charbonnier pointed out that the magazine had poked fun at feminism, nuclear energy and homeland security, but the Islam issues always attracted the most publicity.